Innovation Summit 2025: Tunisia, the Regional Hub for Open Innovation
In collaboration with the Terna Innovation Zone and Mind The Bridge startup support projects, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) organized the Innovation Summit 2025 today in Tunis, under the slogan "Tunisia, the regional hub for open innovation". This event revealed a Call for Applications to select five startups in the field of open innovation.
The summit brought together Tunisian startuppers, academics, and decision-makers to discuss various interesting topics, including the protection of intellectual property in the era of AI, financing means for startups, and Tunisia as a bridge between Europe and Africa.
Mind The Bridge is a startup support and connection project in Africa, particularly in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, and Nigeria. This time, Mind The Bridge chose Tunisia as its fifth destination to launch a platform for open innovation. The debate was an opportunity to announce the publication of the report "Tech Scaleup Tunisia – 2025", which highlights Tunisia's progress as a technological hub in North Africa, with 17 scaleups and initiatives like the Startup Act. Despite successes like Instadeep, financing remains a challenge, with only $0.2 billion raised. The summit was an important meeting to support this developing ecosystem.
The choice of Tunisia is justified by the ICC due to the potential of young Tunisian startuppers. According to Mouna Chaieb, President of the Digital Economy Commission of the ICC, Tunisia is the 5th largest exporter of engineers in the world, 45th in the number of researchers, and 50th in scientific and ecological results of students. These indicators prove the human wealth in Tunisia, despite economic and social gaps.
